Little Brother
by Spencer Quinn
Summary: Dogs are a man's best friend-and also a Mobian's best friend too. But when someone's best friend dies, things change for his friends. Tribute to my friend's dog. I'm making it into a comic on DeviantArt.


**Little Brother**

**A/N: FINALLY! This took forever to write because I didn't know much about Rascal. But hey, it's up now. **

**All characters belong to their rightful owners—except for Quick, Cassie, Kobee and Fergus, they belong to me. Jason and Rascal belong to a friend of mine. Casper belongs to my other friend. **

**Enjoy! ;)**

**...**

**Act 1:**

**_Quick/Shadow:_**

Quick: Is the camera working...? *steps back and grins* This is Quick the Hedgehog, and this is my dog Cass. *voice goes higher-pitched than before* CASSIE!

Cassie: *sitting there giving herself a bath*

Quick: Heheh. *a little more demanding this time* CASSIE!

Shadow: Quick, give it up. You know she won't listen to you, right?

Quick: *whistles* (in Shadow's voice) CASPER!

Shadow: What?

Casper: *comes running around the corner and knocks over Shadow*

Shadow: Casper! Go away! Quick called for you!

Quick: This is Casper. And he's li'l bro's dog.

Shadow: Quick! Get him off me! *tries pushing Casper away, it doesn't work*

Quick: *smirks*

**_Silver:_**

Silver: Hi! I'm Silver the Hedgehog, and this is my best friend Kobee.

Kobee: *walks over, looks at the camera, walks off*

Silver: Wha-? Uh-KOBEE! Uh, hold on a second please, everybody.

(Kobee in real life doesn't like cameras)

**_Cream:_**

Cream: Hello there. I'm Cream the Rabbit, and this is my friend Cheese the Chao.

Cheese: CHAO!

Cream: And this is our best friend, Fergus! I think he likes it when I pat him.

Fergus: *looks down at her hand, then at the camera, then back at Cream and starts pawing at her hand*

Cream: *giggle*

**_Jason:_**

Jason: Hey guys. Jason here and this is my dog Rascal.

Rascal: WOOF!

(I don't know what else to say for Rascal)

_**Present Day**_

#Nobody's gonna see me coming  
Nobody's gonna hear a sound  
No matter how hard they're trying  
Nobody's gonna bring me down

Nobody's gonna see me coming  
Nobody's gonna hear a sound  
No matter how hard they're trying  
No stopping me since I found—#

"Quick, stop singing. Please," Shadow muttered.

"Oh, such a _way_ to ruin a song, brother," Quick replied. She glanced over at her silvery blue dog and smiled. "Well, Cassie likes it, don't ya girl?" She scratched behind her ears, causing Cassie to groan and roll over.

Espio scratched the back of his head. "Tell me something. How do these two dogs have anything to do with your science experiment?"

"Well, they were normal blond dogs to start off with, Es, but now they have our DNA after they both sneezed on us."

Cassie—Quick's puppy—_was_ a grainy blond color to start off with when Quick first got her a week ago, as was Casper—Shadow's puppy. Now, since the silver twin knew they were going to get sick and die like everyone else, the two dogs had both of their DNA in their bloodstreams. Cassie was a blond dog with silver streaks and a blue lightning bolt on her left hind leg, Casper was now a blond dog with a red and black marking on his right hind leg (symbol from the Shadow the Hedgehog game).

"Do you know something I've learnt? Dogs are your best friends! We've only had ours for a week and they know we're their masters!" Shadow said. He looked at his ninja friend with an innocent look. "_You_ should get a dog."

Just then, Silver came strolling along, cradling something in his arms, and saw his friends. "Hey guys!" he called out, running up to them. When the twins saw him, they looked down at the thing he was cradling.

"What is that?"

"Please don't say it's a baby."

"Quick!"

"Huh, what? If it's a baby then call Shadow for babysitting."

"Quick, stop talking!"

"No...Well, not the one you're thinking of."

Quick cocked an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?"

Cassie and Casper started frolicking around the future kid's feet, yapping at him. Shadow looked at his dog and then at his friend, a look of utter surprise on his face. "Wait…did you—"

A head popped out of his arms and yapped back at the two dogs. Quick and Espio shot to their feet.

"You adopted a _puppy!?"_ Quick yelped.

The dog was a chocolate brown color with one white diamond shape on his head and little chipmunk cheeks. He jumped out of the hedgehog's arms and ran up to the older puppies.

"Decided what you're going to call him yet?"

"Kobee? I thought the name would suit...since Tails kept suggesting 'Ernie.'"

"Ernie…" Quick muttered, smirking at the name. "Yeah, I think Kobee is a better name."

Just then, they saw Jason running past with an urgent look on her face.

"Jase? HEY JASE! Wait!" Silver shouted after him. The orange echidna looked back, tears forming. Wait, he was crying?

"What happened?" Espio asked.

"I-I gotta leave," he said, turning back around and sprinting off.

Quick suddenly appeared in front of him. "Tell us what happened now! I won't drop this, and you know it—I'm worried you'd run off again."

Jason snarled. "That's just it—I'm running off again," he choked.

"Why?" Shadow asked.

"Can you just tell us what happened?" Quick said.

He didn't say, he just dashed past the twins, actually pushing them both over before retreating.

"Jason! I'm sorry!" another voice cried. Tails appeared, panting as if he'd just had a race with the echidna—and lost.

"Tails, do _you_ know what happened?" Shadow asked, jumping to his feet.

The young fox looked at him with a sad expression. "You all know Rascal, right?"

Espio nodded.

"Yeah, we took him walking with Cassie and Casper yesterday," Shadow said. The yellow fox rubbed the back of his neck, and the ebony hedgehog didn't seem to like that look—almost look like Tails thought he was crazy. He looked back at his sister. "We _did_, didn't we?"

"Why?"

"Guys, Rascal was put down this morning."

"What? Why?" Silver exclaimed, clapping his hands to signal to Kobee to 'come here.'

"He was attacked by bigger dogs last night when Jason went over to pick him up."

"WHAT!?" Quick and Shadow yelled. "How did we miss that?" Shadow clamped his jaw down on his hand. "When's the funeral? Is that why you called us up?"

"It's in two days. I don't think Jason was impressed since I planned it behind his back."

"That's integrity—what's he yelling at you for?"

"His best friend just died—he had a good reason to."

_So basically, we get one new puppy and lose another to a bunch of bigger dogs?_ Quick asked herself, a lump forming in the back of her throat. But she and her brother didn't cry—they couldn't. It was against their nature to do that.

The memorial service was long and gruelling. Jason seemed to suffer the most. He looked at his other friends and noticed that they were crying—he appreciated that they cared for Rascal. Then he looked at the twins…

They were showing some kind of emotion, but he wasn't sure what emotion it was. But they damn sure _weren't_ shedding a tear. How are they not crying? They knew Rascal more than anybody else!

Anger rose in the pit of his stomach. Guess they didn't care about him after all.

When they got home, Jason walked over to his room. Shadow walked past him, followed by Quick, and he turned around to face them.

"Why didn't you guys cry?" he snarled. The younger brother turned to look at him.

"S-Sorry?" he choked.

"While everyone else was grieving, you two were just standing there. What's wrong with you two?"

The twins shuddered underneath Jason's harsh attitude—this wasn't like him at all. He shook his head with an indifferent look. "I thought you guys cared," he said before walking into his room and slamming the door. Swiftly, Shadow turned to his sister.

"What did we do?" he asked in worry.

"We didn't do anything—that's the problem…I guess we screwed up again," the silver twin said softly. The ebony twin looked at the door and sighed before they both walked off.

**Act 2:**

Three days past after the funeral of Rascal, and Jason was still locked in his room. Silver, Espio, Tails, even the twins thought that this was getting out of hand. It was time he got out of his room now. The two Ultimate Life Forms marched up to the door.

"Hey, Jase! Get out of there before I start singing 'Do you want to build a snowman!'" Quick shouted, knocking on the door of Jason's room. She and Shadow had obviously gotten impatient with his grieving.

"This is ridiculous! You've been in there for _three days STRAIGHT!"_ Shadow shouted.

Two hands fell on both of their shoulders and they turned around. Espio shook his head with a muted look on his face. The twins sighed and, with one last glance at the door, walked off with sad faces.

"I don't think he's coming out," Quick muttered.

"He's going to come out eventually Quick. It's only been three days since Rascal died, he's probably still grieving," Shadow replied.

"But he shouldn't be in his room for so long!"

"Quick, what did you do when Shadow didn't come out of that hospital for two months?" Silver asked, coming up behind her and putting his hand on her shoulder.

The elder twin pivoted around with an indignant look in her eyes, not wanting to bring up that subject again. She lowered her ears. "I got you to do a song with me before I did that operation...?"

"Before that, Quick."

"I'm not gonna touch that topic with a ten foot pole. But I realize what he's going through now." Quick looked back at the door. "He's not going to stay in his room for two months, is he?"

Shadow scoffed. "I doubt it. Jason has too much ahead of him to stay like this."

"And what's that say about _us,_ little brother?"

The younger twin froze, sweatdropping. "Let me rephrase that!" he insisted.

"Exactly."

Tails stood there, anxiously rubbing the back of his neck. He knocked on the door lightly. "Jason? Do you want anything while we're here?"

"I know! Some soup!" Silver suggested, walking over. "Everybody likes soup, don't they?"

For the first time in what felt like forever, the orange echidna stepped out of the room. He didn't even look the same anymore—his face was sunken, there were dark smudges under his eyes, his _eyes_ weren't even bright anymore. The silver twin noticed how skinny he looked too.

"And by the looks of things, you might need something solid with that."

"Thanks, that'll be good…but there's no more soup—I checked last night," Jason said in a quieter tone than he usually spoke in.

"Wha—really?" Silver said. Great, he finally wanted something and they didn't have it.

"I'll go get it, don't panic," Shadow said, dashing over to grab his jacket.

Jason automatically shook his head. "No, don't. It's okay, Shadow."

"Nope! I need to show you that I do actually care about my friends."

"But it's pelting down with rain."

"What?" Shadow turned and looked at the dark skies, giant drops of rain pounding down in sheets. "Wow." He shook his head and cleared his throat. "Hey, no pain, no gain, right? I could get it. Just for you. And besides, the market is—" He pointed out the window "—right across the road."

Espio scoffed. "Yes, if you count a block and a half," he said. Shadow glared at the chameleon and shrugged.

"Just make it fast, little brother," Quick said, looking at the rain. She opened her arms to him and he accepted the hug, cringing a little.

"Yes, _sister_. You guys take care of him and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."

Silver and Espio saluted. "Sure, roger that."

Just as Shadow was about to step out the door, he took out a blue envelope with orange writing on it and placed it on the coffee table. The orange echidna noticed him slip the envelope onto the table.

"Hm?" He grabbed the envelope and ripped it open to find a letter inside.

…

Shadow finished his shopping—a purchase of creamy tomato soup and a loaf of bread—and continued his way home. "Jeez, Jase wasn't kidding when he said it was raining hard," he said as he cradled his groceries.

Through the noise of the pelting rain his hearing caught onto the sound of barking. The streets were empty but he knew that there was something out there. He squinted through the haze of the thick rain to see the silhouette of a familiar dog.

"Casper?" Casper had been known for his reputation as a 'sheep-dog' for following Shadow all over the place. Occasionally he'd jump over the gate and just follow the twins around town.

Then his gaze turned to a flash of headlights from a speeding car.

"Wait!" the ebony hedgehog shouted in alarm. "NO!"

Without thinking, he was suddenly jumping in front of the car, shoving the dog to the other side of the street.

BANG!

Groceries scattered across the road, the rainwater mixing with blood and a yelp of pain echoed across the street.

The car skidded and then kept driving in the other direction.

Tears of hurt started to sting the back of Shadow's eyes at the sharp pain shooting up his leg. He couldn't even look over to see what the damage was—he didn't have to. Every small gesture he made caused his entire body to scream at him for even thinking about it.

He could tell it was bad.

All the movements he made were the shudders of when he gasped for air through the severe torture. His thoughts weren't helping with the situation—he just couldn't get over the fact that a car just ran over him and continued driving, not even bothering to stop and help him! It was screwing up his mind and—

WOOF! WOOF WOOF!

Wait, was that...barking?

Shadow coughed, weakly looking up at the source of barking and saw that it was a blonde dog with the red and black marking and brown eyes.

"Casper…?" he croaked. The dog snuggled under the ebony hedgehog's arm. Shadow crawled up further and embraced his dog, closing his eyes. #_The troubles, they might drag you down, if you get lost you can always be found...#_ he recalled the song at the memorial. An idea shot through his head as he glanced over at Casper. _That's it! _

"Casper—" Shadow mumbled, getting his friend's attention. The dog shot to his feet and looked at his master with an amenable look. "Go get help, boy—" He cut off with a blood curdling cough. Casper barked once more before running off at the speed of light.

_Good boy..._ Shadow thought before falling into darkness, with the sinking feeling that his best friend wasn't coming back.

**Act 3:**

Sonic walked out of the city and back in the village where everybody was enjoying their blissful peace—even through the thick rain. There was no trouble, no Eggman. Everything in the world, for once, was finally going to be alright. However, not far off, he heard a faint yapping sound.

"Huh?" he muttered, twitching his ear. Then he heard it again, but more clearly this time. The blue blur turned around to see a silhouette of a dog with dirty yellow fur bounding toward him.

"Wha—Casper!" Sonic exclaimed. Casper leapt forward and licked his face. "Hey boy, where's Shadow?" At the mention of Shadow, Casper jumped down on all fours, waving his tail in the air. "What is it?"

Casper barked twice.

Suddenly Cream and Cheese, who were walking Fergus from the memorial of Rascal, walked over, noticing that Casper was acting kind of weird. Fergus yapped and jumped out of the little rabbit's arms. "Fergus, wait!" she called, running over to Sonic and Casper. "What's wrong, Sonic?"

"I-I don't know. I'm trying to work out what the problem is with Casper. Shadow didn't come with him, you see—and neither did Quick," Sonic replied. The two dogs then greeted by sniffing rear-ends (causing the two mobians to giggle or cringe), and then started to communicate. Fergus wagged his tail and raised his ears while Casper snorted and yapped. Suddenly, as if on cue, the two dogs were speeding off.

"Wait! Where are they going?" Cream exclaimed.

"Chao Chao Chao!" Cheese cried.

"I don't know, but we better follow them. Come on, Cream!" Sonic said, picking up Cream and speeding after the two dogs.

...

_To Jason,_

_Jase, your attitude had hit an all-time low since the memorial service—at one point you were on top of the world, NOTHING would stand in your way. Now...now you're different. If it were up to any of us, we would rewind time to when Rascal was still alive. Believe me—we've had too many good times with that old boy. Heck, he even saved Quick when she nearly fell off that cliff and Cassie hurt her ankle. [Hold on, I confused myself. You've had more experience with dogs, help me out here. Dogs don't have ankles, do they? Anyway, tell me when you get out of your room]_

_Never got the chance to thank him for that—I realize I need Quick more than I understood...so I guess I understand somewhat what you're going through. _

_Look at it from this angle, he'll see the first light of the sun when it rises in the morning. Rascal isn't truly gone, you know? He's always going to be your best friend. And the memorial isn't so far from the HQ so you could visit him every so often. But just remember, you have "friends"—like me, Quick, Espio, Tails, Sonic, Silver and Cream—who are going to be there for you through thick and thin, like Espio said. _

_I'm just going to tell you this in advance, okay? In the case that I die, forget or can't find you again—which I probably can't do anyway—but I have to get this out..._

_Thank you, for everything, my friend._

_P.S. …Just remember that you're not truly alone and that we're all going to help you get through this._

—_Shadow _

…

_Shadow wrote this?_ Jason thought, feeling tears come to his eyes again. _Thank you for giving me the chance to know you guys. _

"We're not abandoning you now, Jason," a voice behind him said. Jason turned around to see Silver and Quick standing behind him. They'd come through the door, not even caring anymore for personal space. Cassie and Kobee trotted into the room, tails wagging and tongues drooping over their mouths. They both bounded over and gave the orange echidna a big sloppy kiss.

"Yeah, not even if you lose us altogether," Quick said.

"We're all family—not in blood but in bond—we stick together...like Shadow said," Silver added. Jason hobbled over and shrouded the two in a tight hug, which they both returned entirely. Suddenly the phone rang. The cyan-streaked hedgehog broke away from the hug and grabbed the phone, keeping to her namesake.

"Talk to me," she answered the phone. Her expression turned a little more cynical after that. "Oh, what up, Blue Boy?"

Jason and Silver were busy mocking Sonic, poking tongues at the receiver end of the phone, when suddenly Quick's face contorted to one of fear. "He's WHAT!?"

Jason suddenly stopped. "What? What is it?"

"A-A-Alright, we'll be there in a second. Bye." She slammed the phone down in anger. "Damn it, Shadow!" she shouted, looking almost on the verge of swearing or crying or something as she started pacing around the room.

"What happened? I don't understand—"

Quick looked at Silver with a crazed look in her eyes. Man, she was strong. If she was panicking this badly about Shadow without crying on the outside, then it must have been something far above the "critical" level. "Shadow was, uh…wedged in between a sleeper and a hierarchy," she said with her strange fiction language.

"You lost us, Quick. What happened to him, in _normal_ people language?" Jason asked.

Quick facepalmed. "Aw, what the hell—he got hit by a car!"

"What!?" the boys shouted. Quick raced to the far-end of the HQ, Chaos Emerald in hand. She then looked at it with a look that could only scream out _HOW THE HELL DO YOU USE ONE OF THESE THINGS?!_

"I'll handle it, Quick," Silver said. He took the emerald out of her grip and rose it above his head.

"Wait! I'm coming!" Jason shouted, running over to the two hedgehogs before they disappeared. Quick looked over at him with surprise.

"Nice to have you join us. Shadow can't _wait _to see you, Jase," Silver said with a smile.

**Act 4:**

Quick barged through the hospital doors to where Sonic and Cream were sitting there, patting Fergus and Casper.

"Casper?" she murmured. Casper looked up at his master's twin and jumped at her, bowling her over.

"Quick!" Sonic exclaimed, jumping to his feet and helping the girl up. There he caught a glance at Silver and Jason standing at the door.

"Jason? W-What're you—"

"Long story, we'll explain later," Jason said.

"Where's my brother?" Quick asked in her usual calm tone, though the rest of her was panicking for her twin's life.

"Over here," another voice spoke up. The group turned to see Shadow hobbling down the door leading to the hospital room. Quick looked down at his foot and cringed—blood-stained bandages were wound around his ankle, and there was a dressing on his forehead. He scratched the back of his head tensely, remembering what he said before he left the base, and looked anywhere but at his sister. "I guess I was wrong for once—pain is bad."

The twin sister smiled. "Glad you see it from _my_ perspective, little brother," she said. But something was wrong with her voice. Shadow glanced toward her and actually saw tears forming in her eyes. When was the last time she cried? When Maria was recorded under the names of those people who died 50 years back…? When Shadow was diagnosed with NIDS himself…?

That was only two times in their entire life that he saw her cry. If she was on the verge to crying now, then this was new territory for everyone.

"Quick, I'm sorry," he said, limping closer to her. "Please don't cry…" She glared at him through misty eyes, but a smile formed on her face through it as she outstretched her arm to him. Hesitantly, he inched closer and wrapped his arms around her, which made her cry harder, and eventually caused tears to stream down his own face.

Jason could see it now—they did care. They acted strong around all society, but if one is hurt, then the other is there to care for them.

"Uh…guys?" he spoke up. "I owe you guys an apology."

"Huh? Why?"

"Well, I said a few days ago that I thought you didn't care and I'm sorry."

"Hey, it's not a problem."

"Shadow, you're just lucky that you heal really fast," Sonic said.

"I'm the Ultimate Life Form!" Shadow said, but then coughed when he poked his chest.

"Yeah, but you just rank as second best, brother."

Shadow poked his tongue out at his sister. He was right—he needed his sister more than he realized.

"Jase?"

"Huh?"

A rare smile appeared on the ebony hedgehog's muzzle. "Good to have you back."

Jason smiled too. "Good to be back."

**THE END**

**Dedicated to Rascal Walker**  
**2004-2014**

**Cast: **

**Jason**  
**Shadow**  
**Quick **  
**Espio**  
**Tails**  
**Cream/Cheese**  
**Sonic**

**Cassie**  
**Kobee**  
**Fergus**  
**Casper**  
**Rascal**

**Hope you all enjoyed! Comic will be split into different parts—Act 1 to Act 4 (FINALE) **


End file.
